State minimum wage increases phasing in around the US will result in about 2.6-M job losses with “minimal” increases in workers’ salaries, a report from the American Action Forum reports.

According to the center-right group, 22 states and the District of Columbia will implement minimum wage increases this year, but it will come at a cost of 383,000 job losses.

“The full minimum wage increases over the next several years will cost 1.8-M jobs,” policy analysts contend. “When combined with recent previous minimum wage increases in some of the same states, the total loss comes out to 2.6-M jobs.”

“In the end, the additional earnings transferred from the job losers to the job keepers are minimal,” and under minimum wage increases, “for each job loss, total wage earnings only rise by $6,900,” the report states.

The proposals to raise the minimum wage are “well-intended,” the authors write, but… “it is important to consider the negative labor market consequences.”

Employers usually pay for wage increases by cutting their workforce, raising the price on products, slowing down their hiring, or replacing more productive workers with low-skilled workers, according to the report.

“Unfortunately, it is the lowest-wage, least-skilled workers who pay the largest prices for these consequences,” the Forum report contends.

Paul Ebeling

Paul A. Ebeling, polymath, excels in diverse fields of knowledge. Pattern Recognition Analyst in Equities, Commodities and Foreign Exchange and author of “The Red Roadmaster’s Technical Report” on the US Major Market Indices™, a highly regarded, weekly financial market letter, he is also a philosopher, issuing insights on a wide range of subjects to a following of over 250,000 cohorts. An international audience of opinion makers, business leaders, and global organizations recognizes Ebeling as an expert.